Help us deliver journalism that makes a difference in our community.

Taylor Antonowich

Newton senior outside hitter

Coach Jamie Dibbens on Antonowich: “What stands out about Taylor this season was passing-wise how she could just control the floor. If somebody made a mistake, she would be there to pick it up. She probably had the highest passer rating of any player I’ve ever coached. It was pretty incredible to watch. This year you could tell she wanted the ball and she wanted to be set and finish the play for us.”

Opposing coach on Antonowich: “She’s just an all-around, athletic, really good player. She’s been one of their strongest players the last few years and she has a really, really nice angle shot. I was really impressed with her passing and her defense. I think she could probably play any position for them and still be successful at it.”

2017 honors: KVA Class 5A first team all-state, AV-CTL I MVP, AV-CTL I first team all-league. First time All-Metro selection.

Future college: Washburn.

Hesston senior Kailey Jo Ince is a member of the Wichita Eagle’s All-Metro volleyball team.

Fernando Salazar The Wichita Eagle

Kailey Jo Ince

Hesston senior outside hitter

Coach Jason Peters on Ince: “The first thing that stands out is obviously her athletic ability and her ability to just get on top of the ball and put it down in front of defenders. But I think you have to give a lot of credit to our setter, Alaina Dunlavy, for running a quicker offense this season and keep teams from cheating over toward her.”

Opposing coach on Ince: “We were watching her at the state tournament and my setter was like, ‘I would love to be able to set a player like that just one time.’ It would be a lot of fun to have somebody like that where it doesn’t matter where she’s at on the court, she’s still able to put the ball down. It was a lot of fun to watch such a presence on the court.”

2017 stats: 551 kills, .405 hitting percentage, 289 digs, 41 aces, 97 percent serving. Hesston was a 3A state qualifier and finished third at the state tournament with a final record of 40-5.

2017 honors: KVA Class 3A Player of the Year, KVA Class 3A first team all-state, CKL first team all-league. Two-time All-Metro selection.

Future college: Northern Colorado.

Cheney senior Emily Monson is a member of the Wichita Eagle’s All-Metro volleyball team.

Fernando Salazar The Wichita Eagle

Emily Monson

Cheney senior outside hitter

Coach Sara Walkup on Monson: “She is probably the best six-rotation defensive player I’ve ever coached. She understands the game and although she’s somewhat small in size, she makes up for it with her knowledge. She can put it down as a hitter. She kind of became our go-to hitter this season and she knew what to do in the right situations.”

Opposing coach on Monson: “She was an absolutely deadly player. She didn’t look that way. She’s not physically imposing, not real tall, but we could not block her. We tried blocking line, we tried blocking cross, but it didn’t matter. She just killed us every time we played them.”

2017 stats: 282 kills, 509 digs, 38 aces. Cheney was a 3A state qualifier and reached the state championship match, ultimately finishing runner-up with a final record of 38-6.

2017 honors: KVA Class 3A first team all-state, CPL first team all-league. First time All-Metro selection.

Future college: Unsigned.

Goddard senior Tarra Parks is a member of the Wichita Eagle’s All-Metro volleyball team.

Fernando Salazar The Wichita Eagle

Tarra Parks

Goddard senior outside hitter

Coach Shelby Zoglman on Parks: “Usually it becomes progressively harder to score because teams know what you’re going to do, but that never affected Tarra. She always found a way to score for us. Her back-row performance was extremely strong and I think surprised some people. Her serve was just top-notch. She really was a complete player for us.”

Opposing coach on Parks: “You could tell she had a really good handle on what to do. She knew when to pull the trigger and when to pull back and find a good spot for her kill. The one thing I remember about playing her was that she had a really good roll shot. In the volleyball world, that’s really tough when good hitters can do that.”

2017 stats: Goddard was a 5A state qualifier and finished fourth at the state tournament with a final record of 38-8.

2017 honors: KVA Class 5A second team all-state, AV-CTL II first team all-league. First time All-Metro selection.

Future college: Northwestern Oklahoma State.

Andover senior Isabelle Reynolds is a member of the Wichita Eagle’s All-Metro volleyball team.

Fernando Salazar The Wichita Eagle

Isabelle Reynolds

Andover senior outside hitter

Coach Andrea Daugherty on Reynolds: “She is probably one of the most athletic kids I have ever coached. She jumps out of the gym and very versatile. One of the things this year that she added to her game was that she could hit a variety of shots. She’s such a smart player and can see the court really well.”

Opposing coach on Reynolds: “I just remember how extremely athletic she was. She could probably jump higher than anybody in the gym. If she gets a hold of it, there was no stopping her.”

2017 stats: 342 kills, .308 hitting percentage. Andover was a 5A state qualifier and finished with a record of 30-13.

2017 honors: KVA Class 5A second team all-state, AV-CTL II MVP, AV-CTL II first team all-league. First time All-Metro selection.

Future college: Unsigned.

Rose Hill senior Gracie Van Driel is a member of the Wichita Eagle’s All-Metro volleyball team.

Fernando Salazar The Wichita Eagle

Gracie Van Driel

Rose Hill junior middle blocker

Coach Melissa Segovia on Van Driel: “She really stepped up her leadership role on this team and became more of a vocal leader. She embraced that role and took people under her wing. And then on the court, she was just more versatile this season. Of course everyone knows she can put the ball down, but she was able to work on hitting different shots. She was more versatile on the front row this season and able to get us a point when we needed it.”

Opposing coach on Van Driel: “Obviously she is a phenomenal hitter, but I was really impressed with just how smart of a hitter she was. You can feed her the ball anywhere on the court and she’s going to do something different to score every time. She was pretty amazing to watch.”

2017 stats: 385 kills, .523 hitting percentage, 66 blocks, 52 aces. Rose Hill was a 4A I state qualifier and won the state championship for the second season in a row with a final record of 40-4.

Rose Hill senior Emily Witt is a member of the Wichita Eagle’s All-Metro volleyball team.

Fernando Salazar The Wichita Eagle

Emily Witt

Rose Hill senior setter

Coach Melissa Segovia on Witt: “She is so vital to running our offense at the quick pace we like and she’s so good at motivating everybody on the court. She looks to see what is going on on the other side of the net and she excels at putting our hitters in the best position to score. Her knowledge of the game and just her awareness are just spot on.”

Opposing coach on Witt: “She’s so smart at the net and it’s so hard to defend when she’s on the front row. She’s definitely a lot of fun to watch play the game.”

2017 stats: 978 assists, .349 hitting percentage, 39 blocks, 94 percent serving. Rose Hill was a 4A I state qualifier and won the state championship for the second season in a row with a final record of 40-4.

Trinity coach Marie Goscha is a member of the Wichita Eagle’s All-Metro volleyball team.

Fernando Salazar The Wichita Eagle

Marie Goscha

Trinity Academy coach

Goscha on Trinity: “This group of girls was just exceptional and this was the most unselfish team I’ve ever coached in all of my years of coaching. It was just unbelievable to watch when the girls would come off the court, even if it was a senior coming off for a freshman, the girls on the bench were the ones cheering the loudest for the ones on the court. It was just the coolest thing and made for an amazing season.”

Opposing coach on Trinity: “We knew they had some experienced players back, but I was impressed with some of the new players who were more potent than we thought. They were a pretty well-rounded team in all areas. They passed decent. They hit even better. They were really good defensively. They had some nice size. When you put all of those things together, it made for a great battle against them.”

2017 honors: Trinity was a 4A II state qualifier and finished third at the state tournament with a final record of 34-8. It was the second-highest finish in program history at a state tournament and second-highest win total for a single season.

Selection process

This is the 14th year for All-Metro teams selected by The Eagle, recognizing the best high school athletes in team sports throughout Sedgwick, Butler and Harvey counties.

The Eagle sent nomination ballots to volleyball coaches at high schools in Sedgwick, Butler and Harvey counties.

Coaches were asked to return the ballots with nominations of the best players within those counties that they saw this season, including their own players.

Taylor Eldridge selected the team after tabulating nominations, his own evaluation of players and additional input from coaches.